Local Wellness Policies in Massachusetts: Do they make the grade? Lisa Lines, BS, MPH candidate - University of Massachusetts Amherst Lisa Guadagno, MS - Health Dialog Presented at APHA 2007

1 Background Photo: Ken Hammond, USDA

2 The Law Requires… Goals for: Nutrition education, physical activity and other school- based activities Nutrition guidelines Guidelines for reimbursable school meals A plan for measuring implementation A plan for involving the community Photo: Ken Hammond, USDA

3 Many Resources Available to Districts

Study Design and Methods

5 Research Questions 1. What are the characteristics of wellness policies in Massachusetts? 2. How many Massachusetts policies are meeting the requirements of the new law?

6 Policy Evaluation Tool

7 Districts with a policy posted online (N=78) Districts without a policy posted online (N=130) All operational public school districts in Mass. (N=390) Charter, vocational/technical, and institutional districts and districts that do not serve all grade levels N=182 (88% of students in Mass.) Pre-K/K-12 districts N=208 Selection Methodology for Districts Included in Study (37% of students in Mass.)

Results

9 Districts Were Fairly Well Distributed Across the State

10 Districts with Online Policies Were Similar to Those Without

11 Policy Lengths Mass. Largest 100 Districts Nationwide* 140 Policies from 49 States** Mean6.555 Range 0.5 – 35.1 <1 – 26<1 – 20 * A Foundation for the Future, School Nutrition Association, 2006 ** A Foundation for the Future II, School Nutrition Association, 2006 Photo: Ken Hammond, USDA

12 Details, Details

13 Nutrition Guidelines – All Foods on Campus 55% of policies covered vending machines 43% covered food as a reward 39% covered school parties, celebrations, and/or fundraisers Photo: Ken Hammond, USDA

14 Physical Activity: The Bare Minimum “Physical activity outside of physical education classes will be promoted and encouraged” “All students will have opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis.”

Discussion

Appendix: Sample Policies

17 Nutrition Guidelines – School Meals

18 Nutrition Guidelines for School Meals: The Bare Minimum

19 Vending Machine Policies

20 Nutrition Education

21 Physical Activity